The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
